If Hartford can get a thousand well-educated, professional people who give a
hoot about community and quality-of-life issues to up and move in from the
suburbs, the battle will not only be joined, it will be won.

It is nonsense to think that because Ludgin moved back into Hartford from
West Hartford to run for mayor he should somehow be seen as not-qualified.
Thatís like Yankeesí fans dismissing Roger Clemens because he didnít
come up through the farm system.

Ludgin is even more praiseworthy, since Clemens joined the Bronx Bombers
because he wanted to play for a winner. Ludginís move is more like signing
on to the Mudville Nine after Mighty Casey struck out.

Hartford needs all the help it can get. There may have been a time when the
city could be choosy about where its public servants lived, but that clock
has long run down. The city should elect a competent, capable
mayor, and not sweat the small stuff.

Candidates
can even be forgiven if they pronounce Sigourney Streey
like the actress' first name. Beggars can't be choosers.

Flyweight
Eddie Perez, the Hartford Courantís choice for mayor, greatest claim to
City Hall seems to be that his last name is Perez. Itís hard to imagine
that newspaper would be so enthusiastic if his name were Martinelli, Epstein
or Fitzpatrick.

Almost
none of the people who write opinion for that paper actually live in
Hartford. There are a couple of exceptions, such as Jeff "Thereís
nothing a hug canít fix" Rivers.

Suburban types prefer Hartford to have a weak mayor who wonít say things
like, "Hey, maybe you ought to house a few poor people."

Perez, who promised supporters an "outside" slate for the City
Council, caved to insider pressure faster than the Flintstones, before nudge
came to push.

Of course he was very busy sucking up to campaign contributors, including
the New Britain Manaforts, a name so often heard in conjunction with the
shady side of politics that people follow them around on hot days looking
for a little relief.

While Ludgin has announced his first priority would be to improve basic city
services, the mayoral and council races still, as always, lack a discussion
on what it is Hartford really needs to do: make itself a desirable place for
nice families and an unwelcoming place for undesirables.

Despite a commendable effort by school authorities, almost four out of five
kids failed to show up for the first day of school. Again. And every year,
more than one-third of kids in most of the elementary schools didnít
attend the same school the year before. People with kids who have a choice
will choose stability. And that means the suburbs.

If they wanted their kids to be around migrants, theyíd buy a vegetable
farm.

And while there are elements of Hispanic culture that bring vibrancy to the
city, itís not like people are lining up to move to Guatemala. Hartford
could use a few less low-riding Toyotas with boom boxes bigger than their
engines.

Anyone who talks about the "Six Pillars of Development" being some
kind of answer to the cityís problems should be pilloried. To death. A
nice downtown is nice a place for suburbanites to visit.

And please Ė pretty please- can Hartford stop hiring "experts"
who declare that regionalization and the suburbs pitching in will fix
things? If the city goes, they like to proclaim, the suburbs will follow.
Right. The suburbs have thrived and prospered while (and perhaps because)
Hartford has continued to decline.

The necessities for a Hartford revival have appeared in these pages many
times: Design a master residential plan that includes the reduction of
subsidized housing and the construction of new, upscale neighborhoods.
Establish a tier of admission-based schools for the talented student along
the lines of New Yorkís Stuyvesant or Bostonís Latin. Implement a
citywide mass transit system that allows people in these new neighborhoods
to commute to work in the civilized way of yesteryear.

Clean neighborhoods and good schools are why people live in the suburbs.
Itís not because they like spending an hour or two in their cars every day
to get to work. So if you can get enough people who are used to such things
to live in the Hartford, they will demand that the city provide them.

Bob Ludgin is one such person. All Hartford needs is about 999 more like
him.